This invention relates to a pad and garment assembly, and more particularly to a means for securing a leg pad to an athletic garment.
Athletes from a variety of sports have been plagued in the past by problems with their athletic equipment. One such problem involves athletic stockings which are commonly part of an athlete's uniform and which extend up to the knee of the wearer. In attempting to hold these stockings up during the course of a sporting event, the athlete has heretofore used a plurality of devices, all of which have proven to be ineffective in varying degrees. Typically, adhesive tape has been wrapped around the top of stockings for holding the stockings up on the leg, but this method restricts the muscles and the blood circulation in the leg, thereby reducing both the athlete's comfort and maneuverability. Moreover, the use of adhesive tape requires excessive wrapping time and undue expense since the stockings need to be retaped to the athlete's leg prior to each game and again during the game itself if the stockings slip down.
A further problem especially prevelant in the sport of football involves maintaining a leg pad, particularly a knee pad, in proper position on the leg of the athlete during competition. Conventionally, the knee pad is positioned in a pocket on the inside of the athletic pants adjacent the knee and extends from a position below the kneecap to a position adjacent the thigh pad. When the athlete bends his leg, however, the pants leg and knee pad therein are pulled upwardly, thereby leaving the lower portion of the knee unprotected and easily susceptible to contusions, abrasions and other types of injury.